Modified East Harlem Rezoning Passes City Council Committees

EAST HARLEM, NY — The city's controversial plan to rezone East Harlem to add density to the neighborhood picked up two key approvals Tuesday. The New York City Council committees on zoning and land use voted to pass a modified version of the city's plan by a wide margin.

The subcommittee on zoning and franchises voted unanimously — seven in favor — to approve the rezoning proposal and the land use committee voted 18 in favor and 3 absent, according to City Council records. The full City Council will vote on the rezoning plan on Nov. 30.

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and City Councilman Bill Perkins — who represent the areas affected by rezoning — announced that the city's initial rezoning proposal had been "significantly modified" to reduce allowable building heights and densities on East Harlem's major avenues.

The modifications include:

• Reducing density form 12 to 10 FAR and lowering height limits to 275 feet on Park Avenue north of East 118th Street.
• Reducing density from 8.5 to 7.2 and 5.6 FAR with lower height limits on Park Avenue south of East 118th Street.
• Lowering height limit from 285 feet to 205 feet at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and East 116th Street.
• Reducing density from 12 to 10 FAR and lowering height limits from 325 feet to 235 feet on Third Avenue between EAst 124th and 122nd streets.
• Reducing density from 12 to 9 FAR and lowering height limits from 325 feet to 235 feet on Third Avenue south of East 122nd Street.
• Lowering height limits from 285 feet to 175 feet on Second Avenue.

The East Harlem rezoning plan will institute Mandatory Inclusionary Housing rules on the neighborhood's rezoned sites, Viverito and Perkins announced Tuesday. The plan will bring 1,288 affordable units on private development sites to the neighborhood, which is currently losing 360 affordable units per year, according to the council members.

The plan also includes a $50 million investment in East Harlem's New York City Housing Authority properties, a $25 million investment in outdoor market and event space La Marqueta, and a new $101 million waterfront park between East 125th and 132nd streets.

Mayor Bill de Blasio hailed Tuesday's vote as a win for the city's affordable housing goals.

"Our affordable housing plan is on the move, with new programs and investments, a new goal of 300,000 affordable homes – and now an agreement on the East Harlem neighborhood plan that will bring nearly 4,000 more affordable homes to residents of this diverse and vibrant community," de Blasio said in a statement.

Activists criticized the city's rezoning proposal as a racist plan that would spur hyper-gentrification in the neighborhood home to a majority of immigrants and people of color. The city's original plan was rejected by Community Board 11 during a heated meeting in June. During the meeting, opponents of the plan rushed the stage and disrupted the vote even though the board voted against the rezoning.

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer was also a critic of the plan, calling it "rezoning done the wrong way." Brewer cited the city's original proposal's deviations from Community Board zoning recommendations and the community-formed East Harlem Neighborhood Plan in her decision to oppose the plan.

On Tuesday, Brewer called the modified plan a "significant improvement" that would "create guaranteed, permanent affordable housing, and it will do so responsibly, with height limits and long-overdue investments in open space, schools, and infrastructure."

Correction: This article originally stated that three land use committee members voted against the rezoning proposals. Those members were absent from the vote.

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